For those playing NYTPicker at home, the Urban Dictionary defines "battle-ax" as "a very aggressive and bad tempered (old) woman." From dictionary.com comes this interpretation: "Slang. a domineering, aggressive, sharp-tempered person, esp. a woman."

We get it. Bea Arthur didn't exactly play shrinking violets. But hey, didn't anyone at the NYT ever watch "The Golden Girls"? Dorothy had a sharp wit and used it for humor, like lots of women on television all the way back to Audrey Meadows's Alice Kramden on "The Honeymooners." Was Alice a battle-ax, too? To the NYT, probably.

It seems sad to see the NYT reduce the career of a brilliant actress like Bea Arthur to a harsh slang metaphor that seems synonymous with "bitch," especially on page one. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, we know. But she deserved better.

I'm sorry. My mother wouldn't let me watch "Maude" when I was growing up because she said the woman was mean, rude and degrading. Arthur's idea of humor was insulting the other person and putting him-- and occasionally her-- down. While Maude seemed to think that this behavior was liberating and long overdue, my mother recognized that the behavior hurt all of us, men and women alike, by ripping out our hearts and cauterizing the wounds with a propane torch. The word "battle ax" is too kind. I would have chosen "jerk" or "wretched proof that women are just as mean and self-centered as men." Sheesh.

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